Dibawah ini digambarkan ketimpangan antara kaya
dan yang miskin dalam skala dunia.
Yang menyolok, dan ini menurut penuturan istriku yang 3 tahun yll sempat
melancong ke beberapa kota di India, punya kesan terbalik. Banyak ditulis
tentang kemajuan India, tapi dipandangan mata seorang tourist seperti istriku,
wah melihat orang miskin disana, dimana2 baik di Mumbay(Bombay) dan New Delhi
kayaknya pengemis di India itu pegang rekor. Tidak pernah istriku melihat
begitu banyak orang miskin gentayangan di kota2 besar. Dan diberitakan India
itu maju ekonominya. Ngak tahunya penjelasan dibawah dalam artikel ini
dikatakan memang trendnya perkembangan ekonomi ini hanya membuat jurang antara
yang miskin dan kaya jomplang ke-mana2.
Di ceritakan oleh koncoku, ceritanya apabila anda sempat jalan2 pagi2 buta di
kota2 besar maka ada trucks yang chusus keliling kota mengambil jenasah orang
miskin yang mati di trottoir jalan2 di kota2 besar India. Sekalipun India
mencetak Laksmi Mittal orang kaya no:5 (kekayaan ditaksir 32 milyard)didunia
tapi berjibun orang miskin mati keleleran di India.
Tambahan ada juga 2 orang kaya yang mencapai urutan 538 yakni Rahman Halim (
1.9 milyard)dari Gudang Garam dan no 664 Budi Hartono(1.5 milyard) dalam skala
orang terkaya didunia. Tapi bikin masgul orang Indonesia sendiri karena kedua
mogul ini jualan racun yang berupa rokok. Jadi jualan kesenangan yang membikin
orang kecanduan dan membuat orang sakit pernapasan dan cancer. Jadi ngak
impressip hasil kerjanya jadi kaya cuman hasil jualan racun(tapi halal).
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World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
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WSWS : News & Analysis : Global Inequality
Forbes 2007 list: Nearly one thousand billionaires in the world, a misfortune
for humanity By David Walsh
10 March 2007 Back to screen version | Send this link by email | Email the
author
Forbes magazine released its annual list of billionaires Thursday. There are
now nearly one thousand billionaires worldwide946 to be exact, according to
the magazines calculationsand their combined wealth in the past year grew by
35 percent to $3.5 trillion.
The latter figure is larger than the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of every
nation in the world with the exception of the US, China, Japan and India. The
combined GDP of all the countries in Africa, a continent of nearly one billion
people, was some $2.3 trillion in 2005. More than a third of the African
population lives on less than $1 a day. The combined GDP of South Americas
largest trading bloc, Mercosur, whose full members are Argentina, Brazil,
Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela, is $1.1 trillion.
The proposed US federal budget for 2007 amounts to $2.8 trillion. The sum
devoted in that budget to Social Security, Medicare and education for a
population of 300 million people is approximately one-third of the combined
wealth of those 946 individuals. The European Union countries spend something
more than half a trillion dollars annually on education. The Chinese government
expended some $15 billion in 2005 on science and technology, education, health
and culture for its population of more than one billion people.
The co-editor of the lead Forbes piece on the billionaires, Luisa Kroll,
explained that in 2006 the rich cashed in on globally strong equity markets,
real estate and commodity prices. The Associated Press (AP) quoted Kroll, Its
just been kind of an extraordinary year for markets worldwide.
Forbes editor and former candidate for the Republican Party presidential
nomination, Steve Forbes, crowed, This is the richest year ever in human
history. Never in history has there been such a notable advance. For a
relative handful, this is true. Meanwhile nearly one billion people go to sleep
each night without food. The existence of the group of 946 and their enormous
wealth speak to staggering levels of global social inequality.
Who are these people? Microsofts Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett
remain number one and two in the world in 2006, with $56 and $52 billion,
respectively. The third man on the list, Mexicos telecom mogul Carlos Slim
Helu, is now worth $49 billion. He gained $19 billion in a single year, the
largest one-year gain over the past decade.
The Forbes profile of Helu, whose holdings include telecom, banking, energy,
tobacco and more, notes enthusiastically that he has built unimaginable wealth
in one of the poorer countries in the Western Hemisphere . . . Slim, 67,
amassed his pile in a nation where per capita income is less than $6,800 a year
and half the population lives in poverty. His wealth comes to 6.3 percent of
Mexicos annual economic output; if Gates had a similar chunk in the US, hed
be worth $784 billion. Its enough to give any populist heartburn. The piece
notes that Helu is generally mistrusted and despised in Mexico.
Swedens Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, along with his family, is
listed as the fourth richest individual in the world. It was discovered in 1994
that Kamprad joined a Swedish pro-Nazi group in 1942 and remained a friend of
its leader until the early 1950s. His wealth is placed at $33 billion.
Lakshmi Mittal, the Indian steel magnate, comes in at number five on the 2007
Forbes list, with $32 billion. His family owns 45 percent of Arcelor Mittal,
now the worlds largest steel company. In 2004 he paid more than $65 million to
host his daughters wedding, the worlds most expensive in history.
Number six is Sheldon Adelson, a property developer and businessman based in
Las Vegas, with $26.5 billion. He is chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp.,
which owns and operates the Venetian Casino Resort and the Sands Expo and
Convention Center. In 2004 the one-million-square-foot Sands Macao became
Chinas first Las Vegas-style casino.
Bernard Arnault of France, the owner of Christian Dior and LVMH, which
markets some 50 well-known brands, including Marc Jacobs fashions, Louis
Vuitton bags and a cluster of famous champagnes, according to Time magazine,
is number seven. Arnault is worth $26 billion.
Number eight is Spaniard Amancio Ortega of the retailer Zara and Inditex, a
holding company, with $24 billion, according to Forbes estimates. One
commentator observes, Inditex became the biggest multinational textile company
in Spain and among the largest in the world; in the late 1990s only Gap and
Swedens HM were larger.
Li Ka-shing of Hong Kong is the ninth wealthiest individual in the world.
Forbes wrote this of him a year ago: Real estate developer, cell phone
provider, retailer, major supplier of electricity to Hong Kong and the worlds
largest operator of container terminals. Li is reportedly the richest person
of Chinese descent and the most influential investor in Asia. He is the
chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Limited and Cheung Kong Holdings in Hong Kong. In
2001, Asiaweek called him Asias Most Powerful Man.
The last of the top ten is David Thomson (and family) of Canada. He gained
control of the family fortune after his father, Kenneth Thomson, died in June
2006. He had already succeeded his father as chairman of Thomson Corp., the
media conglomerate in which the family has a 70 percent share. The company once
made most of its money in newspapers, but today Thomson specializes in the
electronic delivery of information for the financial, legal, research and
medical professions.
Forbes Kroll and Allison Fass observe, Ingenuity, not industry, is the
common characteristic shared by the worlds billionaires. One might come up
with other adjectives, but an association with industry is certainly not a
common feature. Mittal is the exception that proves the rule, as one critic
writes, his specialty is scooping up distressed steel mills in remote
corners of the world and making them profitable through tough management
practices. In other words, he follows a financial playbook of extracting value
through vulnerability.
Kroll and Fass write of their list, these folks made money in everything
from media and real estate to coffee, dumplings and ethanol.
The 2007 list has several notable features. While the US only placed three
individuals among the top ten, it still leads the world in billionaires with
415, or 44 percent of the total. However, many of them are dropping through
the ranks [like the Walton family members and Michael Dell] and are being
overtaken by business tycoons from Asia and other emerging economies, including
Russia and Mexico (AP).
Germany has the second highest total, 55, but Russia, with 53 mostly young,
self-made tycoons is catching up. What a commentary on the collapse of the
Soviet Union and its consequences!
India, which has some 350 million people who go to sleep hungry every night,
has managed to spawn 36 billionaires, four in the top 21. It has now surpassed
Japan (24) as the Asian country with the largest number of mega-rich. Hong Kong
has 21 billionaires and Communist China now has 20, including self-made
mogul Li Wei, founder of Synear Food Holding . . . one of the countrys largest
producers of frozen food, including sweet and meat dumplings . . . an official
supplier to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. Thirteen of the Chinese
billionaires made the list for the first time.
The AP comments, The rich in China and India, the worlds two most populous,
cashed in on nearly every opportunity created last year by their increasingly
globalized economies, from a boom in stock markets to soaring commodity and
real estate prices, the magazine [Forbes] said.
Their wealth accumulations have also manifested in a growing demand for
luxury goodsfrom Louis Vuitton bags to Porsche carsin this once impoverished
part of the world. Rolls-Royce is apparently expanding its workforce by 25
percent to meet the demand from China. Merrill Lynch meanwhile reported that it
plans to open more private banking centers in India to tap its growing
cash-rich population.
Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are now worth more $16 billion a
piece, in one of the most rapid rises in wealth.
In other articles, Forbes glories in the homes and playgrounds the
super-rich can afford. Many keep second, third, even fourth residences all
over the world. One particular commonality is New York City. [Microsofts Paul]
Allen and Viacom chief Sumner Redstone, No. 86 with a net worth of $8 billion,
are two of many who maintain secondary homes on New Yorks East Side.
Here, they join many illustrious full-time residents, such as David Koch
(No. 49, with a net worth of $12 billion), who lives in an 18-room duplex in
the exclusive 740 Park Avenue building, and Michael Bloomberg. The citys mayor
(No. 142 with a net worth of $5.5 billion), who also owns homes in Bermuda,
London and Vail, Colo., de-stresses in a five-floor, 7,500-square-foot
townhouse a half-block away from Central Park. He also owns homes in Bermuda,
London and Vail, Colo.
The magazine explains some of the leisure habits of the billionaires:
Indeed, those with a net worth exceeding a billion dollars have a limitless
area for escape. And for these lucky few, a vacation spot is not just a place
to bask in the culture and climate, its a place to be seen with notorious
neighbors and famous faces.
One, of course, where the living is good. Indeed, whether the locales are
snow-capped or sun-kissed, Monaco or Mustique, all offer the worlds best
service and amenities.
When you have unlimited budgets, you can get whatever you want, says Susan
Breitenbach, a Bridgehampton, N.Y.-based senior vice president of the Corcoran
Group. And billionaires are used to good restaurants and used to world-class
shopping.
Thats not all. For the exceptionally private traveler, there is always the
private island. Whether renting or purchasing, like Richard Branson, private
islands hold an unparalleled sense of seclusion.
Bransons 74-acre Necker Island and 120-acre Moskito Island are both in the
British Virgin Islands. Necker Island, purchased by Branson in 1976, is
currently used as a private resort for rent (one can rent the entire island or
share with others in off-weeks). Branson hopes to turn both Necker Island and
Moskito Island, which he bought earlier this year, into eco-friendly resort
islands featuring Balinese-style lodges of sustainable materials and wind, wave
or solar power.
And this: Whats next for the billionaire tourist?
[Donna] Foersom [marketing manager for luxury travel and tour operator
Abercrombie & Kent] says the untouched and unexplored destinations are the
future. Antarctica may be the next big thing for those have been to the other
six continents, while Papua New Guinea and Botswana combine top-end, luxury
accommodations with extreme remoteness that should impress the most
discerningand most distinguishedtraveler.
In September 2007 Rolls-Royce will start delivering the $412,000 Phantom
Drophead convertible. However, those anxious to own one will have to waitthe
automobile is sold out for almost two years in advance. Currently some 300
people are on a waiting list.
The Rolls may be the most prestigious, but it is not the most expensive. The
mogul happy to have all eyes upon him will no doubt want to settle in behind
the wheel of this rideBugattis $1.2 million Veyron 16.4 supercar, which has
1,001-horsepower, a top speed of 253 mph and a zero-to-60 time of under 2.5
seconds.
Another billionaire-friendly set of wheels is DaimlerChryslers $453,000
Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren supercar, a street-legal racecar with a top speed of
207 mph. Its perfect for the adrenaline-junkie eager to go for a spin down the
Autobahn then escort his sweetie to dinner hours later.
But not all billionaires desire sports cars. Some, after a long day of
deal-making, want to relax in an ultra-luxury sedan, like a Maybach or a
Bentley. Some want models with exotic, alternative technology. The ride of
choice for that type of billionaire? Monacos $392,000 Venturi Fétishpossibly
the worlds most glamorous electric car. And so forth.
The various Forbes articles and the entire list stink of parasitism,
corruption and outright gangsterism. That is state of the global rich today.
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World Socialist Web Site
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